State v. Prevatte
| Decision Date | 09 May 1997 |
| Docket Number | No. 126A95,126A95 |
| Citation | 346 N.C. 162,484 S.E.2d 377 |
| Parties | STATE of North Carolina, v. Ted Anthony PREVATTE. |
| Court | North Carolina Supreme Court |
Michael F. Easley, Attorney General by Debra C. Graves, Assistant Attorney General, for the State.
Center for Death Penalty Litigation by Kenneth J. Rose, Durham, for the defendant-appellant.
We shall discuss only one of the defendant's assignments of error which we hold entitles him to a new trial. The State's principal witness was Jeffrey Burr, who was an eyewitness to the shooting. At the time of the trial in this case, Mr. Burr was under indictment in another county on nine charges of forgery and uttering forged checks. The other county, however, was under the same district attorney. The trials on these charges had been continued for eighteen months at the time of the trial in this case. The defendant wanted to cross-examine Mr. Burr about these charges and whether Mr. Burr had been promised or expected anything in regard to the charges in exchange for his testimony in this case. The court refused to let the defendant ask these questions.
We believe we are bound by Davis v. Alaska, 415 U.S. 308, 94 S.Ct. 1105, 39 L.Ed.2d 347 (1974), to order a new trial. In Davis, the principal witness against the defendant was on probation. The defendant was not allowed to cross-examine the witness about his probationary status, and the United States Supreme Court held this violated the defendant's Sixth Amendment right "to be confronted with the witnesses against him." Id. at 315, 94 S.Ct. at 1110, 39 L. Ed.2d at 353. The Supreme Court said that the defendant had the right to show that the witness was afraid he would be charged with the crime because he was on probation and the right to show that the fact he was on probation gave the State of Alaska some power over him. The Supreme Court said, Id. at 318, 94 S.Ct. at 1111, 39 L.Ed.2d at 355 (quoting Smith v. Illinois, 390 U.S. 129, 131, 88 S.Ct. 748, 750, 19 L.Ed.2d 956, 959 (1968)).
The defendant in this case had a stronger argument than the defendant in Davis. Mr. Burr was facing criminal charges. The witness in Davis was on probation. The State in this case had a stronger weapon to control the witness. The fact that the trial of Mr. Burr on the forgery and uttering charges had been continued for eighteen months might have...
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State v. Atkins
...could receive the death penalty for her involvement in Lyle's death. Defendant asserts that this Court's holding in State v. Prevatte, 346 N.C. 162, 484 S.E.2d 377 (1997), should mandate an order directing a new capital sentencing proceeding. In Prevatte, this Court ordered a new sentencing......
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Prevatte v. French
...North Carolina on charges of kidnapping and murder. After having his initial convictions reversed on appeal, see State v. Prevatte, 346 N.C. 162, 484 S.E.2d 377, 379 (1997), Petitioner was re-tried and the jury again found Petitioner guilty of first-degree murder and two counts of second-de......
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State v. Prevatte
...was sentenced to death after being found guilty of first-degree murder and two counts of second-degree kidnapping. State v. Prevatte, 346 N.C. 162, 484 S.E.2d 377 (1997). Following defendant's appeal from these convictions, this Court granted defendant a new trial. Id. On 17 February 1999, ......
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State v. Murrell
...131, 151 (1994) (holding that counsel is not allowed to cross-examine witnesses on pending charges). Unlike State v. Prevatte, 346 N.C. 162, 163-64, 484 S.E.2d 377, 378 (1997), in which the State's witness faced pending charges within the same jurisdiction in which he testified, any charges......